Wednesday, January 23, 2008

honesty...

I've found, after working in "ministry" for many years, that too many Christians just aren't honest. There were so many times that I felt everyone was putting their best foot forward even when they had just removed it from their mouths. People never admitted to struggling, to slipping up on occasion or just being human. Made you kinda sick to your soul after a while.

Now, I work at my church, and the best thing is the staff is so honest. No one pretends they are perfect, people admit to watching the Simpsons and listening to non-Christian music- things that would have set off a huge rainstorm of condemnation at my former place of employ. But working at church is a lot easier than working at that other place. It is nice to know that I'm normal and I don't have to constantly be on guard. I can laugh when something is funny, make faces, say the word "crap" and not have people treat me like pond scum.

We had a staff lunch today- my first. I sat at a table with out "emerging generations" pastors (two of them), their assistant (a college gal), our pastor's assistant and our mission pastor. We spent most of the hour laughing. It was great conversation- we talked about our favorite movies. And no, the answers were not "Left Behind" or G-rated Disney. We had favorites like Stranger than Fiction, Green Mile, Serenity, Transformers, Juno, Lonesome Dove and others. Movies that had some cussing in them, movies that had people sleeping together outside of marriage- movies about real people. That didn't make anyone judgemental, it didn't make anyone not take part in the conversation. It was nice.

I've noticed as of late that I've become a radical- I don't shy away from the tough topics. I will gladly talk to gay people, I will be friends with the gals at work who are sleeping with their boyfriends, I will try to treat people like Jesus did when he was here- I will eat with tax collectors and sinners. And to be honest, I prefer their company sometimes. Thankfully, I have some other radical Christians around me. I'm glad to have them because they refresh me and encourage me. They let me know it is okay to like a song that is about kissing and enjoy a sci-fi/western story that has strange curse words in it. Their honesty and openness about life is like a spring rain- sweet and refreshing on a parched land.